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Grammy Award nominees The Imani Winds, a quintet renowned for embracing traditional classics, modern compositions and ethno-cultural works brings its unique pastiche of influences and disciplines to The University of Alberta's Convocation Hall in the old Arts Building, Sunday, March 14 at 2 p.m. The recital featuring this ensemble, described by the New York Times as having "excited the chamber music world," will close the Edmonton Chamber Music Society's 2009/2010 season.
Hailing from New York City with members originating from such locales as Kentucky and California, The Imani Winds consist of flautist Valerie Coleman, clarinetist Mariam Adam, bassoonist Monica Ellis, oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz and French horn player Jeff Scott. Since 1997, the five performers have eschewed the stodgy path of performance and promotion by blurring the borders between musical eras and genres, opting for cultural significance and poignancy as their main criteria for selecting the works they perform.
After 12 years, these efforts continue to pay off by reaching new audiences, pleasing diehard music aficionados and winning such awards as the ASCAP Award in 2007, the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in 2002, as well as the CMA/WQXR Award for their debut and self-released CD Umoja, also in 2002. In 2005, their CD The Classical Underground—which highlighted the quintet's street-oriented approach to works by Argentinean jazz-tango composer Astor Piazzola, exiled Cuban jazz saxophonist Paquito D'Rivera, as well as original compositions by Coleman and Scott—was nominated for a best crossover classical album Grammy in 2005. The group's next release, dubbed Giants of Jazz, will feature works by D'Rivera, Jason Moran and Wayne Shorter.
The Imani Winds will perform a mixed program of new and older works, opening with Valerie Coleman's "Red Clay and Mississippi Delta." The rest of the itinerary will consist of Maurice Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin," Jason Moran's "Cane" (written specifically for the ensemble), Elliott Carter's "Woodwind Quintet," and the "Freyleka" movement from Gene Kavadlo’s arrangement of "Klezmer Dances."
